His father Frank Wood was a basketmaker and his mother, Lucy Eleanor (Nell), née Meeson was a seamstress.
After school, he spent his National Service with the RAF in Canada and on his return he studied English at Downing College, Cambridge.
The following year, he became resident director at the London Arts Theatre, working alongside Peter Hall.
[3] He was also responsible for regularly directing premiere productions of plays by Tom Stoppard, from Jumpers (1972) to Hapgood (1988).
Wood lived his final years in a restored barn house at a Batcombe, Somerset and died on 11 February 2016 as a result of dementia and old age.